Thursday, January 25, 2018

It appears the Brewers question Brinson’s ability to hit major league pitching. It will be interesting to see how he progresses.

The Marlins continued their rebuilding process on Thursday, trading Silver Slugger Award-winning outfielder Christian Yelich to the Brewers in exchange for three of Milwaukee’s top 14 prospects, according to MLB Pipeline, and four overall—including outfielder Lewis Brinson.

The 23-year-old Brinson, who has 21 games of big league experience, is ranked by MLB Pipeline ...

Although underhand pitching is supposed to “kill” the man who sticks to it, Carl Mays, the Red Sox star, seems to thrive. After a good year in 1916 he repeated last season by running second to Eddie Cicotte in effectiveness, as measured by the earned runs scored against him.

Based on a book by Nicholas Dawidoff recounting a fascinating true story, “Catcher” does a disappointing disservice both to Rudd and to the real-life catcher/spy Moe Berg. Berg was a journeyman professional baseball player better known for his engaging intellectualism than his skill on the diamond. He held degrees from Princeton and Columbia, spoke multiple languages and made short work of trivia questions on popular radio quiz shows. But he was also an endlessly secretive and mysterious man ...

One of cinema’s most iconic baseball fields suffered thousands of dollars in damage this week when a vandal apparently tore up the landscaping with a vehicle.

Denise Stillman, owner of Dyersville’s Field of Dreams movie site, said…it appears that a vehicle was driven onto the field, causing significant damage. ...She anticipates repairs will cost thousands of dollars. “Someone who is disturbed had some agenda to damage the field,” [said] Stillman, [who] believes it will take an ...

With the amount of talent they have assembled, it’s really tough to ignore The Athletic.

Cubs president Theo Epstein, general manager Jed Hoyer, run prevention coordinator Tommy Hottovy and pro scouting director Kyle Evans met with Darvish and his Wasserman representatives last month at a Four Seasons resort in the Dallas area.

What can the Pirates do to win back their fan base? Ron Dick, an associate professor of sports marketing at Duquesne University, thinks he knows the answer.

Trust the process.

“We’re getting mixed messages from the (Pirates),” Dick said. “One minute we’re told, ‘We’re going to win as many games as we can in 2018.’ Then they go out and trade their best player and best pitcher.

Remember when Singleton was criticized for taking such a below market deal?

First baseman Jon Singleton—the team’s former No. 1 prospect who spent all of last season at Double-A Corpus Christi—has received a 100-game suspension without pay after a third positive test for a drug of abuse in violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.

“I do my job. I care for my clients. I am spending every waking hour trying to bring attention to owners so they act with integrity,” Boras says. “Certainly I want them to sign my clients. But I’m trying to get them to act with integrity. Winning is the cement of baseball integrity.”

“We kicked people out of the game when they tried to not win,” Boras continued, referring to the Black Sox scandal, in which baseball banned eight members of the 1919 Chicago ...

Monday, January 22, 2018

The MLBPA has been selling out amateurs and minor leaguers for decades. The acts were incredibly short-sighted. It shouldn’t be shocking that smart front offices want to build using cheap young players instead of more expensive veterans.

What the Mets have been doing to their fans, to baseball, and to the city of New York for the last ten years is nothing short of shameful. The evidence is right there — in public — for everyone to see. It requires no mudslinging, and no speculation.

The greater question might be: how long is this a viable tactic for an agent?

At some point, I suspect, front-office executives will advise their bosses (club owners) — or already have — about this page from the agent playbook and note how it worked out with Fielder, Pujols, and Wieters. But the play might still be working for now, and agents certainly would have a motivation to employ it with so many players still looking for work with less than a month before camps open.

Second Baseman Del Pratt and Pitcher Eddie Plank of the Browns were traded to the New York Yankees on Tuesday for five players and a cash consideration. The five players are: Catcher Nunamaker, Pitcher Cullop and Shocker, and Infielders Maisel and Gedeon. The cash consideration was not announced.

The cash consideration was eventually reported as $15,000. This was a terrible deal for the Yankees. Pratt was a good ballplayer, a second baseman who played every day ...

Would ballot-box behavior change if people knew more precisely how their fellow citizens planned to vote?

It’s a question that still haunts Democrats as they continue staring daggers at their friends who went third party in November 2016. But it’s also an experiment being carried out in real time by the Baseball Writers Association of America as members prepare to elect at least three and as many as five retired greats to the Hall of Fame later this

Following on the heels of his foray into Japan, Lars Anderson is now playing in Australia.

The baseball is most certainly different. You might even be surprised that baseball is played in the land Down Under. Many of its own residents certainly are. ‘We have a baseball team?!’ is a common response when someone asks me what I am doing in Australia.

Scherzer: When you get down to the root of it, the clock MLB is proposing with ball-strike penalties, it’s very regimented. There is no leeway within any situations. Say there is a quick game going on. Everyone is doing their job and working at a quick pace. Then something happens and someone takes a little extra time. And we’re going to penalize somebody. That’s what leads to a lot of people being frustrated by having a ...